Malware, or malicious software, can infect or infiltrate a computer system. Some examples of malware may include computer viruses, worms, trojan horses, spyware, adware, root kits, and so forth. Malware may also include any undesirable code or software that diminishes performance, consumes resources, circumvents security, or otherwise impacts the operation of a computer system. Detection and removal of such malware may be attempted to protect computers from damage, security breaches, or unauthorized use or access.
In many computing systems, low-level instruction code, or firmware, is used as an intermediary between the hardware components of the computing system and high-level software executing on the computing system such as an operating system. In some computer systems, this low-level instruction code is known as the Basic Input and Output System (BIOS). The BIOS provides a set of software routines that allow high-level software to interact with the hardware components of the computing system using standard calls.
Firmware within a computing system or embedded system may be extensible, updatable, or otherwise susceptible to alteration. Thus, malware may infect or modify the firmware in undesirable ways.
It is with respect to these considerations and others that the disclosure made herein is presented.